Interrupting receipt of sensitive information

ABSTRACT

A method includes detecting an initial vocalization by a user in an environment including a primary device and a secondary device, analyzing the initial vocalization to determine whether a future vocalization is likely to contain sensitive information based on the initial vocalization where the future vocalization is a potential future vocalization, and controlling, based on determining that the future vocalization is likely to contain sensitive information, a speaker of the primary device to output a noise canceling signal configured to prevent the secondary device from detecting the future vocalization.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/176,025, filed Feb. 15, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/199,930, filed Nov. 26, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No.10,922,433, the contents of each of which are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to protection of sensitiveinformation. More specifically, the present disclosure relates tointerrupting receipt of sensitive information by electronic devices.

Many people depend on digital assistants for day-to-day tasks andactivities. Some digital assistants may be embodied on a mobile device.Additionally, some digital assistants may be embodied on a dedicatedat-home device. A user can interact with the digital assistant using themobile device or the at-home device. Typically, a user utters a wake-upphrase followed by a natural language voice input including a command toperform a task. The digital assistant may then interpret the naturallanguage voice input to identify the command and perform the task. Userscan perform various tasks via their digital assistants including sendingmessages or emails, adding calendar entries, taking notes, orderinggoods or services, etc.

As users become more dependent on their digital assistants, they maybegin to feel overly comfortable with their digital assistant. Forinstance, users may disclose sensitive information to their digitalassistant. As one example, a digital assistant may issue a prompt forinformation so the digital assistant can execute a command requested bythe user. The digital assistant may request, for instance, the user'saddress, the user's phone number, the user's social security number, apassword, etc. The user may then provide this type of information to thedigital assistant. While in some instances such a disclosure may besafe, such information may still be intercepted by third-parties orotherwise used in an unauthorized manner.

SUMMARY

At least one embodiment relates to a method. The method includesmaintaining sensitive information data associated with a user. Themethod includes receiving a vocalization at a primary device and at asecondary device. The method includes analyzing, by the primary device,the vocalization to determine a content of the vocalization. The methodincludes comparing the content of the vocalization to the sensitiveinformation data to determine whether the vocalization contains at leastsome sensitive information. The method includes controlling, based ondetermining that the voice input contains some sensitive information, aspeaker of the primary device to output a noise canceling soundconfigured to prevent the secondary device from receiving anysubsequently vocalized sensitive information.

Another embodiment relates to a system. The system includes a microphoneconfigured to detect voice inputs from a person to a secondary device.The system includes at least one speaker configured to output noisecanceling sounds. The system includes a computing system including aprocessing circuit, and the processing circuit includes a processor andmemory. The memory is structured to store instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to receive, by themicrophone, a vocalization from the person to the secondary device. Thememory further stores instructions that, when executed by the processor,cause the processor to analyze the vocalization to determine a contentof the vocalization. The memory further stores instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to compare the content tosensitive information data associated with a user to determine whetherthe vocalization contains at least some sensitive information. Thememory further stores instructions that, when executed by the processor,cause the processor to control a speaker of the primary device to outputa noise canceling sound based on determining that the voice inputcontains some sensitive information. The noise canceling sound isconfigured to prevent the secondary device from receiving anysubsequently vocalized sensitive information.

Another embodiment relates to a method. The method includes maintainingsensitive information data associated with a user. The method includesreceiving a vocalization at a primary device and at a secondary device.The method includes analyzing, by the primary device, the vocalizationto determine a content of the vocalization and an expected content of asecond vocalization expected to be vocalized following the firstvocalization. The method includes determining that the secondvocalization is expected to contain sensitive information based on atleast one of a comparison of the content of the first vocalization tothe sensitive information data and a context of the first vocalization.The method includes controlling, based on determining the secondvocalization is expected to contain sensitive information, a speaker ofthe primary device to output a noise canceling signal configured toprevent the secondary device from receiving the second vocalization.

This summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any waylimiting. Other aspects, inventive features, and advantages of thedevices or processes described herein will become apparent in thedetailed description set forth herein, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying figures, wherein like reference numerals refer to likeelements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an example environment including a sensitive informationinterruption device and a secondary device, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the sensitive information interruptiondevice of FIG. 1 , according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 is another example environment including a sensitive informationinterruption device and a secondary device, according to anotherexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is another example environment including a sensitive informationinterruption device and a secondary device, according to anotherexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart depicting an example method of interruptingdisclosure of sensitive information, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before turning to the figures, which illustrate certain exemplaryembodiments in detail, it should be understood that the presentdisclosure is not limited to the details or methodology set forth in thedescription or illustrated in the figures. It should also be understoodthat the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description onlyand should not be regarded as limiting.

Individuals often provide vocalizations to their digital assistant. Insome instances, the vocalizations may include sensitive information,such as passwords, personally identifiable information, financialinformation, social security numbers, etc. These individuals mayinadvertently or purposefully disclose such sensitive informationwithout understanding possible negative implications of the disclosure.The embodiments described herein prevent receipt of the sensitiveinformation, thus mitigating the negative implications. The embodimentsdescribed herein are configured to analyze vocalizations provided by anindividual to a secondary device (such as a secondary device including,operating, or otherwise executing a digital assistant). The embodimentsdescribed herein are configured to control a speaker to output a noisecanceling sound to prevent receipt of the sensitive information.

The embodiments described herein solve the technical problem of securingsensitive information. The embodiments solve the problem by analyzingthe vocalization to determine whether they contain (or whethersubsequent vocalization will likely contain) sensitive information, andcontrolling a speaker to output the noise canceling sound to preventreceipt of any further sensitive information. Such embodiments are notperformable by conventional computing systems or humans because otherpeople or typical computing systems are unaware of a user's sensitiveinformation, and thus, conventional computing systems and humans wouldnot be able to determine when a vocalization contains sensitiveinformation. Rather, the embodiments described in the present disclosuremaintain information pertaining to a user's sensitive information, andinterrupts receipt of sensitive information by third parties when thesensitive information is detected in a vocalization.

Referring to FIG. 1 , an example environment including a sensitiveinformation interruption device 100 (referred to hereinafter as a“primary device”) and a secondary device 105 is shown according to anexemplary embodiment. The secondary device 105 may be a standalonedevice separate from the primary device 100. For instance, the secondarydevice 105 may include or enable a user 110 to interact with a digitalassistant. The secondary device 105 may be similar to those provided byAMAZON®, APPLE®, GOOGLE®, MICROSOFT®, etc. which embodies their digitalassistants, ALEXA®, SIRI®, GOOGLE® Assistant, and CORTANA®,respectively. As one example, the secondary device 105 may be a mobiledevice associated with the user 110. Additionally, the secondary device105 may be a dedicated at-home device (e.g., an AMAZON ECHO®, a GOOGLEHOME®, etc.). The primary device 100 is configured to generate a noisecanceling signal that cancels the voice of the user 110 when the user isvocalizing sensitive information, thereby interrupting or otherwisepreventing the secondary device 110 from receiving the sensitiveinformation. The primary device 100 maintains sensitive information dataassociated with the user 110. The sensitive information may be, forinstance, passwords, social security numbers, medical information,financial information, etc. The primary device 100 may detectcommencement of a vocalization by the user 110 to the secondary device105. As the vocalization is detected by the primary device 100, theprimary device 100 analyzes the vocalization from the user 110 todetermine content of the vocalization. The primary device 100 determineswhether the vocalization contains sensitive information based on thecontent of the vocalization. When the primary device 100 determines thatthe vocalization contains sensitive information, or determines that afuture vocalization will contain sensitive information (e.g., thevocalization is “My password is. . .”), or determines that thevocalization contains a first part of sensitive information (e.g., thefirst three letters of the social security number of the user 110), theprimary device 100 controls a speaker 115 to generate a noise cancelingsignal that interrupts receipt of further sensitive information by thesecondary device 105 (e.g., the next vocalizations of the user 110, thesecond part of the sensitive information, such as the last six lettersof the social security number of the user 110).

The embodiments described herein may provide additional protection tousers who inadvertently disclose sensitive information. For instance,the embodiments described herein prevent a user from inadvertentlydisclosing sensitive information to a secondary device 105 (such as adigital voice assistant embodied on a standalone device) by generating anoise canceling signal that interrupts receipt of further sensitiveinformation by the secondary device 105. The embodiments describedherein may inform a user 110 that they are disclosing sensitiveinformation, which may educate the user 110. Various other benefits willbecome apparent according to the following disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2 , a schematic diagram of the primary device 100 isshown, according to an exemplary embodiment. In some embodiments, theprimary device 100 may be embodied as a standalone device (as shown inFIG. 1 ). In other embodiments, the primary device 100 may be embodiedon another device separate from the secondary device 105. For instance,the primary device 100 may be embodied on a smartphone or other mobiledevice, a standalone device including a digital assistant, etc.

The primary device 100 is shown to include a microphone 200. Themicrophone 200 may be a sensor configured to detect sounds from anexternal environment, such as the environment depicted in FIG. 1 . Themicrophone 200 may be sensitive to frequencies in the voice frequencyspectrum (e.g., approximately 85 Hz to 255 Hz). The microphone 200 mayinclude various filters to remove or cancel background noise.Accordingly, the microphone 200 may be tuned or otherwise configured todetect spoken (e.g., voice) inputs from a user 110.

The primary device 100 is shown to include a speaker system 205including at least one speaker 115. The speaker system 205 may beconfigured to control the speaker(s) 115 to output various sounds in theexternal environment, such as the environment depicted in FIG. 1 . Thespeaker system 205 may receive one or more signals from variouscomponents or elements described herein, and output sound via thespeaker(s) 115. Such sounds may distort other sounds in the externalenvironment, such as spoken words, syllables, or characters by the user110. These sounds may prevent other devices, such as the secondarydevice 105, from detecting or otherwise discerning content of the spokenwords, syllables, or characters by the user 110.

The primary device 100 is shown to include a processing circuit 210. Theprocessing circuit 210 includes a processor 215 and memory 220. Thememory 220 includes one or more circuits. As will be discussed infurther detail below, the circuits described herein may include hardwarestructured to execute functions described herein. In some embodiments,each respective circuit may include machine-readable media forconfiguring the hardware (e.g., the processor 215) to execute thefunctions described herein. While shown as embodied on the memory 220,in some embodiments, at least some of the circuits described herein maybe located remotely from the processor 215. In these embodiments, theprocessor 215 may access or otherwise execute the functions associatedwith these circuits via respective communications device on a network(e.g., a Local Area Network [LAN], Wide Area Network [WAN], WirelessLocal Area Network [WLAN], Internet Area Network [IAN], cloud-basednetwork, etc.).

The memory 220 is shown to store sensitive information data 225. Thesensitive information data 225 may be or include data which correspondsto sensitive information associated with one or more users. “Sensitiveinformation” as used throughout this disclosure means information whichis to be protected against unwarranted or unwanted disclosure. Variousexamples of sensitive information includes personally identifiableinformation, such as name, social security number (or last four digitsof a social security number), passport or driver's license number,credit card numbers, digital identity, telephone number, home address,email address, vehicle registration plate number, date of birth,birthplace, telephone number, etc., passwords, usernames, etc. In someembodiments, sensitive information may include log-in information for abank account associated with a user (e.g., a password for a bank accountfor a user). While these examples are provided, the present disclosureis not limited to these particular examples. Rather, the presentdisclosure includes any type of information which a user would generallynot disseminate to the public.

In some embodiments, the memory 220 may store sensitive information data225 for several users. For instance, in a household, the memory 220 maystore sensitive information data 225 for each member of the household.

The sensitive information data 225 may be provided to the primary device100 by a user (e.g., user 110). The user may log onto a secure websiteor web portal associated with the primary device 100. The user may inputvarious sensitive information to the secure website or web portal, suchas the sensitive information described above. The sensitive informationdata 225 corresponding to the inputs provided by the user may then bestored in the memory 220. In some embodiments, the sensitive informationdata 225 may be stored on memory 220 located remote from the primarydevice 100. Accordingly, while the present disclosure describes thememory 220 being local, in some embodiments, the memory 220 (or one ormore components of the memory 220 described herein) may be stored remotefrom the primary device 100 and accessible by the various componentsdescribed herein via respective communications devices.

In some embodiments, the sensitive information data 225 may be encryptedwhen the user inputs their sensitive information to the secure websiteor web portal. The sensitive information data 225 may be encryptedaccording to various methods, such as symmetric encryption, asymmetricencryption, hashing, etc. Accordingly, the sensitive information data225 may be protected from unauthorized access.

The memory 220 is shown to include a vocalization processing circuit230. The vocalization processing circuit 230 may be a circuitimplemented to perform functions related to the processing and analysisof vocalizations provided by a user (e.g., user 110). The vocalizationsprovided by the user may be directed to the secondary device 105 (ofFIG. 1 ) rather than the primary device 100. The vocalizations may bedetected by the microphone 200, and the signal corresponding to thevocalization generated by the microphone 200 may be communicated to thevocalization processing circuit 230. Accordingly, the vocalizationprocessing circuit 230 may be implemented to perform functions relatedto a vocalization provided by the user to a device separate from theprimary device 100. The vocalization processing circuit 230 may monitorthe vocalizations from the user to a device which is separate from theprimary device 100, such as the secondary device 105.

The vocalization processing circuit 230 may include various instructionsfor converting the signal corresponding to the vocalization from speechto text. For instance, the vocalization processing circuit 230 mayinclude an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system 235. The ASR system235 may include various circuitry or other components configured totranslate spoken words to text. The ASR system 235 may implement or usevarious algorithms, such as hidden Markov models, neural networks, etc.,to convert spoken words to text.

The vocalization processing circuit 230 may include various instructionsfor interpreting the text. For instance, the vocalization processingcircuit 230 may include a natural language understanding (NLU) system240. The NLU system 240 may use the text from the ASR system 235 andvarious contextual queues for understanding the meaning of thevocalization from the user. The NLU system 240 may include variousgrammars for performing part-of-speech tagging, segmenting, and parsinga given vocalization. Accordingly, the vocalization processing circuit230 may generally include various components to determine the content ofa vocalization spoken by a user. While the above-described systems areused in some embodiments, the vocalization processing circuit 230 mayinclude other components or systems for determining the content of avocalization.

The vocalization processing circuit 230 may detect commencement of avocalization from a user. The vocalization processing circuit 230 maydetect commencement of the vocalization when data is generated by themicrophone 200. The vocalization processing circuit 230 may begininterpreting the vocalization from the user as the vocalization isreceived. Accordingly, the vocalization processing circuit 230 mayanalyze the vocalization in real-time or near real-time.

The memory 220 is shown to include a sensitive information detectioncircuit 245. The sensitive information detection circuit 245 may be acircuit implemented to perform various functions related to detection ofsensitive information within a vocalization. The sensitive informationdetection circuit 245 may compare the content identified via thevocalization processing circuit 230 to the sensitive information data225 to determine whether the vocalization contains any sensitiveinformation.

The sensitive information detection circuit 245 may detect variouscharacters of a vocalization from a user (e.g., as identified by thevocalization processing circuit 230). The sensitive informationdetection circuit 245 may compare each of the characters and theirsequence to the sensitive information data 225 as they are identified.The sensitive information detection circuit 245 may access the sensitiveinformation data 225 and compare the sequence of characters from thevocalization to each (or a subset) of a plurality of data entries of thesensitive information data. As one example, where a vocalizationincludes the sequence “four two,” the sensitive information detectioncircuit 245 may access the sensitive information data 225 and identifydata entries within the sensitive information data 225 that include (orbegin with) the sequence “four two.”

In some embodiments, the sensitive information detection circuit 245 mayflag vocalizations that specifically contain individual characters (asopposed to spoken words). The sensitive information detection circuit245 may flag these vocalizations because they may be more likely tocontain sensitive information (e.g., a password, a social securitynumber, a credit card number, etc.).

The sensitive information detection circuit 245 may compare a number ofconsecutive matching characters (e.g., characters contained in avocalization that match characters in sensitive information asidentified in the sensitive information data 225) to a threshold. Thethreshold may be a predetermined number of characters used to discernrandom vocalizations which may include individual characters tovocalizations that contain sensitive information.

In some embodiments, the threshold may be set based on the type ofsensitive information. As one example, a social security number (whichtypically includes nine digits) may have a threshold of threecharacters. As another example, a credit card number (which typicallyincludes 15-16 digits) may have a threshold of four characters. As stillanother example, a telephone number (which includes ten digits excludingcountry code) may have a threshold of five digits.

In some embodiments, the threshold may be dynamic based on the type ofsensitive information. For instance, a home address typically includes aseries of numbers representing a house number followed by the streetname (e.g., “123 Main Street”). However, many streets use a differentnumber of digits for identifying specific houses. Accordingly, thethreshold for a home address may be dynamic based on the home addressprovided by the user. For instance, the threshold may be the number ofdigits for the house number, the number of digits and the start of thestreet name (e.g., “Main” from the example above), etc. As anotherexample, a password may have a varying number of characters. Thethreshold for a password may be dynamic based on the number ofcharacters (e.g., three characters for a password containing eightcharacters, four characters for a password containing ten characters,etc.).

In each of these embodiments, the sensitive information detectioncircuit 245 may identify when a vocalization contains sensitiveinformation by comparing the content of the vocalization to sensitiveinformation data 225. The sensitive information detection circuit 245(and therefore the primary device 100) may be passive in that, when thesensitive information detection circuit 245 does not identify anysensitive information in a vocalization, the sensitive informationdetection circuit 245 does not perform any further functions (e.g., theprimary device 100 is maintained in an idle state). In this regard, theprimary device 100 may perform further functions when the sensitiveinformation detection circuit 245 identifies sensitive information in avocalization from a user. When the sensitive information detectioncircuit 245 identifies a vocalization that contains a sequence ofcharacters (or characters and text) including sensitive information, theprimary device 100 may perform one or more functions as described below.

The memory 220 is shown to include a speaker control circuit 250. Thespeaker control circuit 250 may be a circuit implemented to performvarious functions related to the control of the speaker system 205and/or speaker(s) 115. The speaker control circuit 250 may becommunicably coupled to the speaker system 205 and/or the speaker(s)115. The speaker control circuit 250 may provide signals to the speakersystem 205 and/or speaker(s) 115 which cause the speaker(s) 115 todisburse sound in the environment. For instance, the speaker controlcircuit 250 may store various signals which are associated with soundsto disburse from the speaker(s) 115 into the external environment (suchas depicted in FIG. 1 ). In some embodiments, the sound disbursed fromthe speaker(s) 115 may interrupt receipt of a vocalization by anotherdevice located in the external environment, such as the secondary device105. In some embodiments, the sound disbursed from the speaker(s) 115may correspond to a prompt directed to the user regarding thevocalization including sensitive information. In each of theseembodiments, these signals may be communicated to the speaker 115 (e.g.,through the speaker system 205) and cause the speaker 115 to disbursethe corresponding sound in the environment. These and other embodimentswill be discussed in turn below.

The speaker control circuit 250 may store a noise canceling signal. Thenoise canceling signal may be a signal that, when communicated to thespeaker system 205, causes the speaker(s) 115 to output a sound thatinterrupts further receipt of sensitive information by other deviceslocated in the environment of the primary device 100. The speakercontrol circuit 250 may be communicably coupled to the sensitiveinformation detection circuit 245. When the sensitive informationdetection circuit 245 identifies a vocalization that contains a sequenceof characters (or characters and text) that includes sensitiveinformation, the speaker control circuit 250 may automatically providethe noise canceling signal to the speaker system 205.

The speaker control circuit 250 may provide the noise canceling signalto the speaker system 205 prior to the user speaking the entirety of thesensitive information associated with the data entry which the sensitiveinformation detection circuit 245 identified within the vocalization.Accordingly, the sensitive information detection circuit 245 mayidentify that vocalization contains an initial portion of sensitiveinformation, and the speaker control circuit 250 may provide the noisecanceling signal to the speaker system 205 prior to the user speakingthe entirety of the sensitive information. The speaker(s) 115 may outputthe noise canceling sound which interrupts the receipt of the remainingportion of the sensitive information from the data entry.

As one example, where the user begins to speak a password having eightcharacters (for instance, p-a-s-s-w-o-r-d), the sensitive informationdetection circuit 245 may identify the vocalization as containingsensitive information when the user speaks an initial portion of thesensitive information (e.g., “p-a-s”). The speaker control circuit 250may provide the noise canceling signal to the speaker system 205, andthe speaker(s) 115 may output the noise canceling sound to interrupt thereceipt of the remaining portion of the sensitive information (e.g.,“s-w-o-r-d”).

As another example, where the user begins to speak a social securitynumber having 9 digits (e.g., 123-45-6789), the sensitive informationdetection circuit 245 may identify the vocalization as containingsensitive information when the user speaks an initial portion of thesensitive information (e.g., “1-2-3”). The speaker control circuit 250may provide the noise cancelling signal to the speaker system 205, andthe speaker(s) 115 may output the noise canceling sound to interrupt thereceipt of the remaining portion of the sensitive information (e.g.,“45-6789”). In each of these examples, the sensitive informationdetection circuit 245 and speaker control circuit 250 together interruptreceipt of sensitive information to another device located in theenvironment of the primary device, such as the secondary device 105.Such embodiments may prevent or inhibit inadvertent receipt of sensitiveinformation by other devices located in the environment of the primarydevice 100. These embodiments may protect the user from identity theft.Additionally, these embodiments may educate the user such that the usermay become more conscientious of when (and where) they provide sensitiveinformation, and to whom or what they provide sensitive information.

In some embodiments, the speaker control circuit 250 may store anotification signal. The notification signal may be a signal that, whencommunicated to the speaker system 205, causes the speaker(s) 115 tooutput a sound that corresponds to a notification directed to the user.In this embodiment, the notification may alert the user that the userwas disclosing sensitive information. In some embodiments, thenotification may be an audio message which indicates that the user wasdisclosing sensitive information (e.g., “Do you know that you weredisclosing sensitive information?”). The audio message may beprerecorded from, for instance, a celebrity. In some embodiments, thespeaker control circuit 250 may also store a display signal. The displaysignal may control a display 255 to output visual feedback along withthe audio message (e.g., the notification may be an audio/visualnotification).

In some embodiments, the speaker control circuit 250 may store a promptsignal. The prompt signal may be a signal that, when communicated to thespeaker system 205, causes the speaker(s) 115 to output a sound thatsolicits information from the user. For instance, the sound may be anaudio prompt which asks the user to authorize the disclosure of thesensitive information (e.g., “Do you wish to provide this sensitiveinformation?”). The user may respond in natural language form (e.g.,“Yes, I want to proceed.”). The user's response may be detected by themicrophone 200 and interpreted by the vocalization processing circuit230. Where the user wishes to proceed (e.g., the user does not believethe information they are disclosing is sensitive), the sensitiveinformation detection circuit 245 may be temporarily disabled and/orbypassed such that the speaker control circuit 250 does not communicate(or deactivates) the noise canceling signal. In this regard, the usermay be warned that they are disclosing sensitive information and mayproceed uninterrupted should they choose to do so.

In some instances, the user associated with particular sensitiveinformation may not be the speaker (e.g., someone else is providing thesensitive information to another device in the environment of theprimary device 100). In some embodiments, the prompt may be communicatedto another device of the user. For instance, the primary device 100 mayinclude a communications device which is communicably coupled to amobile device associated with the user whose sensitive information isbeing disclosed. The prompt may be communicated to the mobile device.The user may then authorize (or not authorize) the disclosure of thesensitive information remotely. In this regard, the user may besafeguarded from unintended disclosure of sensitive information, evenwhen the user is not around the primary device 100.

In some embodiments, the primary device 100 may be configured to detectwho is speaking the voice prompt. For instance, the memory 220 may storea user identification circuit 260. The user identification circuit 260may be a circuit implemented to perform various functions related to theidentification of the user who spoke the vocalization. The memory 220may store a number of user profile(s) 265. Each user profile(s) 265 maybe associated with a particular user. Each user profile 265 may includecorresponding characteristics which are used to identify the user. Theuser identification circuit 260 may compare detected characteristics ofthe speaker to those characteristics in the user profile(s) 265 todetermine if the speaker is a known user. If the user identificationcircuit 260 does not have any (or enough) characteristics that match auser profile 265, the speaker may be identified as an unknown user.

The user identification circuit 260 may identify the user in a number ofways. As one example, the user identification circuit 260 may identifythe speaker of the vocalization based on the speaker's voice. The useridentification circuit 260 may include a speaker recognition systemwhich is used to differentiate between different speakers. The speakerrecognition system may identify acoustic patterns associated with agiven speaker's speech characteristics (e.g., voice pitch, speakingstyle, etc.). The speaker recognition system may identify the speakerwho spoke the vocalization based on the speaker's speech characteristicsin comparison with speech characteristics associated with a given userprofile 265. As another example, the user identification circuit 260 mayidentify the speaker based on various biometric information. The primarydevice 100 may include one or more biometric sensors 270. The biometricsensors 270 may be sensors that are configured to detect biometricfeatures associated with a speaker. The biometric sensors 270 may befingerprint sensors, iris scanners, face detection systems, etc. Theuser profile(s) 265 may include corresponding biometric data which areused to compare with data generated by the biometric sensors 270. Theuser identification circuit 260 may identify the speaker based on thecomparison of the biometric data from a corresponding user profile 265and the biometric data generated by the biometric sensors 270.

In some embodiments, each of the user profiles 265 may includecorresponding security settings. For instance, a given user may havesecurity settings associated with their preferences. The securitysettings may be settings for whether particular information is deemedsensitive to the user. As one example, a given user may provide securitysettings that indicate their email address is not sensitive when it isprovided by them (or another specifically identified person), but theircredit card number and social security number are always sensitive. Asanother example, a given user may provide security settings thatindicate their home address is not sensitive, but their email address issensitive. As another example, a given user may provide securitysettings to issue an authorization prompt to the user's mobile device sothat the user can authorize (or not authorize) the disclosure ofparticular sensitive information on a case-by-case basis. The user maythen authorize (or not authorize) the disclosure of the sensitiveinformation remotely. Each of these security settings may be reflectedin their corresponding user profiles. Users may provide these securitysettings when they input sensitive information to the secure website orweb portal (e.g., to be stored in the sensitive information data 225).

In some embodiments, the speaker control circuit 250 may be configuredto determine security settings associated with a given speaker todetermine whether the speaker is permitted to disclose the sensitiveinformation. When the user identification circuit 260 identifies theuser who spoke the vocalization, the speaker control circuit 250 canidentify security settings associated with the speaker (based on theuser profile associated with the user). The speaker control circuit 250may determine whether the user profile includes security settingspertaining to the particular sensitive information in the vocalization.The speaker control circuit 250 may control the speaker system 205according to the security settings.

As one example, a user speaking a vocalization may have securitysettings which indicate that their home address is not deemed sensitivewhen spoken by the user. The user may provide a vocalization whichincludes their home address. The vocalization processing circuit 230 mayprocess the vocalization to determine the content of the vocalization.Additionally, the user identification circuit 260 may analyze thevocalization to determine who is speaking the vocalization. Thevocalization processing circuit 230 may determine the vocalizationincludes the home address which is sensitive information. The useridentification circuit 260 may determine the speaker is the user whosehome address is being spoken. The speaker control circuit 250 may, undersome conditions, control the speaker system 205 to output the noisecanceling sound to interrupt receipt of further sensitive information(e.g., additional details about the user's home address) by any devicesin the environment of the primary device 100. However, since the speakeris the user whose home address is being spoken, and the user hassecurity settings which indicate that their home address is not deemedsensitive when spoken by the user, the speaker control circuit 250 maybe configured to refrain from communicating the noise canceling signalto the speaker system 205. In this regard, the speaker control circuit250 may selectively regulate the disclosure of sensitive informationbased on various security settings and who is speaking a givenvocalization.

As another example, a user who is not speaking a vocalization (e.g., afirst user) may have security settings indicating their email address isdeemed sensitive if spoken by anyone other than the user. Another user(e.g., a second user) may provide a vocalization which includes thefirst user's email address. The vocalization processing circuit 230 mayprocess the vocalization to determine the content of the vocalization.Additionally, the user identification circuit 260 may analyze thevocalization to determine who is speaking the vocalization. Thevocalization processing circuit 230 may determine the vocalizationincludes the first user's email address, which is sensitive information.The user identification circuit 260 may determine the speaker is not thefirst user (or any other known user). In this example, the speakercontrol circuit 250 may control the speaker system 205 to output thenoise canceling sound to interrupt receipt of further sensitiveinformation (e.g., the remaining portion of the email address) by anydevices in the environment of the primary device 100.

As still another example, a user may have security settings indicatingtheir social security number is always deemed sensitive. The user mayprovide a vocalization which includes the user's social security number.The vocalization processing circuit 230 may process the vocalization todetermine the content of the vocalization. Additionally, the useridentification circuit 260 may analyze the vocalization to determine whois speaking the vocalization. The vocalization processing circuit 230may determine the vocalization includes the social security number whichis sensitive information. The user identification circuit 260 maydetermine the speaker is the user. Even though the user is providingtheir own social security number, the speaker control circuit 250 maycontrol the speaker system 205 to output the noise canceling sound tointerrupt receipt of further sensitive information (e.g., the remainingportion of the user's social security number) by any devices in theenvironment of the primary device 100 based on the security settings.

As yet another example, a user who is not speaking a vocalization (e.g.,a first user) may have security settings indicating their phone numberis deemed sensitive if spoken by anyone other than the first user or thefirst user's spouse. Another user (e.g., a second user) may provide avocalization which includes the first user's phone number. Thevocalization processing circuit 230 may process the vocalization todetermine the content of the vocalization. Additionally, the useridentification circuit 260 may analyze the vocalization to determine whois speaking the vocalization. The vocalization processing circuit 230may determine the vocalization includes the first user's phone numberwhich is sensitive information. The user identification circuit 260 maydetermine the speaker is not the first user. However, the useridentification circuit 260 may determine that the second user (e.g., thespeaker) is the first user's spouse based on a user profile 265 for thefirst user's spouse. In this example, the speaker control circuit 250may refrain from controlling the speaker system 205 to output the noisecanceling sound so that the second user can provide the furthersensitive information (e.g., the remaining portion of the first user'sphone number) to the target device in the environment of the primarydevice 100.

While these examples are provided, it should be noted that the presentdisclosure is not limited to these particular examples. To the contrary,a given user may have a variety of settings based on who is providingthe vocalization (e.g., themselves, other particular users, etc.), andwhat is the specific sensitive information contained in thevocalization.

Referring now to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , additional environments includingthe primary device 100 and the secondary device 104 are shown accordingto exemplary embodiments.

Specifically, FIG. 3 shows an example environment where the secondarydevice 105 is the user's 110 mobile device. The secondary device 105 mayinclude a digital assistant, such as SIRI®, ALEXA®, CORTANA®, etc. Theuser 110 may speak a wake-up phrase (e.g., “Hey, Siri”). The wake-upphrase may cause the secondary device 105 to exit a sleep mode andactively listen to the user 110. The user 110 may then interact with thesecondary device 105. In some embodiments, the secondary device 105 maysolicit various information from the user 110. The user 110 may providevarious voice prompts in response to the solicitations from thesecondary device 105. In the particular example depicted in FIG. 3 , onevoice prompt from the user 110 may include the user's 110 socialsecurity number. The primary device 100 may detect each of the voiceprompts from the user 110. The vocalization processing circuit 230 ofthe primary device 100 may analyze these voice prompts to determine thecontents of each of the voice prompts. Specifically, the vocalizationprocessing circuit 230 may determine whether these vocalizations containsensitive information. The sensitive information detection circuit 245may detect an initial portion of the user's 110 social security number.The speaker control circuit 250 may communicate the noise cancelingsignal to the speaker system 205. The speaker(s) 115 may then output thenoise canceling sound to interrupt further receipt of sensitiveinformation (e.g., the remaining portion of the user's 110 socialsecurity number) by the secondary device 105 (e.g., the user's 110mobile device).

FIG. 4 shows an example environment where the primary device 100 isembodied on the user's 110 mobile device. In this example, the secondarydevice 105 may be a device similar to the device described in FIG. 1 .Accordingly, the secondary device 105 may include a digital assistant,such as SIRI®, ALEXA®, CORTANA®, etc. The user 110 may speak a wake-upphrase (e.g., “ALEXA”). The wake-up phrase may cause the secondarydevice 105 to exit a sleep mode and actively listen to the user 110. Theuser 110 may then interact with the secondary device 105. In someembodiments, the secondary device 105 may solicit various informationfrom the user 110. The user 110 may provide various voice prompts inresponse to the solicitations from the secondary device 105. In theparticular example depicted in FIG. 4 , one voice prompt from the user110 may include the user's 110 home address. The primary device 100(e.g., the user's 110 mobile device) may detect each of the voiceprompts from the user 110. The vocalization processing circuit 230 ofthe primary device 100 may analyze these voice prompts to determine thecontents of each of the voice prompts. Specifically, the vocalizationprocessing circuit 230 may determine whether these vocalizations containsensitive information. The sensitive information detection circuit 245may detect an initial portion of the user's 110 home address. Thespeaker control circuit 250 may communicate the noise canceling signalto the speaker system 205. The speaker(s) 115 may then output the noisecanceling sound to interrupt further receipt of sensitive information(e.g., the remaining portion of the user's 110 home address) by thesecondary device 105.

While these example environments are shown, it should be understood thatthe present disclosure is not limited to the particular arrangementsdepicted in FIGS. 1, 3, and 4 . For instance, in various embodiments,the primary device 100 may be configured to surround the secondarydevice 105. For instance, in some embodiments, the primary device 100 isa sound-proof cage or other structure configured to selectively permitand block sound waves from being passed to the secondary device 105. Theprimary device 100 may include a port for passing through a power cordof the secondary device 105, or the primary device 100 may include apower supply for supplying power to the secondary device 105. Theprimary device 100 may include a default setting which permits soundwaves to pass through the primary device 100 to the secondary device105. The user may speak a vocalization (e.g., “my password is. . .”),which is passed through the primary device 100 to the secondary device105. The primary device 100 may detect the vocalization. Thevocalization processing circuit 230 of the primary device 100 mayanalyze the vocalization to determine the contents of the vocalization.Specifically, the vocalization processing circuit 230 may determinewhether the vocalization indicates forthcoming sensitive information.The sensitive information detection circuit 245 may detect the phrase“my password is,” and determine that the next vocalization from the usermay indicate the user's password. The primary device 100 may then blocksubsequent sound waves from passing through the primary device 100 tothe secondary device 105.

Referring to FIG. 5 , a flow chart depicting an example method ofinterrupting disclosure of sensitive information is shown according toan exemplary embodiment. The flow chart shown in FIG. 5 provides onlyone example of interrupting receipt of sensitive information.Accordingly, the following disclosure should not be limited to each andevery operation shown in FIG. 5 . To the contrary, the method does notrequire each and every operation shown in FIG. 5 . In some examples, themethod may include additional operations. Further, the method does notneed to be performed in the same chronological order shown in FIG. 5 .Additionally, some operations may be performed in a different order thandepicted in FIG. 5 , and some operations may be performed atsubstantially the same time.

In some embodiments, the method 500 may start when the primary device100 is turned on, supplied power, etc. Additionally, the method 500 maybegin when a user logs onto the secure website or web portal. The method500 may proceed to operation 502.

At operation 502, the memory 220 may store sensitive information data225 associated with a user. The user may log onto the secure website orweb portal. The user may input various sensitive information to thesecure website or web portal. The sensitive information provided by theuser may be encrypted and saved in memory 220 as sensitive informationdata 225. The method 500 may proceed to operation 504.

At operation 504, the primary device 100 may be maintained in an idlestate. The primary device 100 may be maintained in an idle state untilthe microphone 200 generates a signal (or detects a sound) that is notfiltered as background noise. The method 500 may proceed to operation506.

At operation 506, the primary device 100 detects a vocalization. Themicrophone 200 may generate a signal corresponding to sound detected inthe environment (such as one of the environments depicted in FIG. 1 ,FIG. 3 , or FIG. 4 ). The microphone 200 may apply a filter to thesignal to filter out environmental background noises. The microphone 200may be tuned to detect vocalizations. When a vocalization is detected,the method 500 may proceed to operation 508. When a vocalization is notdetected, the method 500 may loop back to operation 504, where theprimary device 100 is maintained in an idle state.

At operation 508, the vocalization processing circuit 230 may analyzethe vocalization detected at operation 506. The vocalization processingcircuit 230 may determine the content of the vocalization. Thevocalization processing circuit 230 may include an ASR system 235 toconvert the vocalization to text. The vocalization processing circuit230 may include an NLU system 240 to determine the meaning of the text.The vocalization processing circuit 230 may identify the content basedon the text and the determined meaning of the vocalization. The method500 may proceed to operation 510.

At operation 510, the sensitive information detection circuit 245 maycompare the content of the vocalization (determined at operation 508) tothe sensitive information data 225 (maintained at operation 502). Thesensitive information detection circuit 245 may compare the content tothe sensitive information data 225 to determine whether the vocalizationincludes any sensitive information. In some embodiments, the sensitiveinformation may be an initial portion of a password. For instance, thesensitive information may be an initial portion of a password to anonline bank account for a user. The sensitive information detectioncircuit 245 may compare the initial portion of the password (asrepresented in the sensitive information data 225) to the content of thevoice to determine whether there is a match. The method 500 may proceedto operation 512.

At operation 512, the sensitive information detection circuit 245 maydetermine whether the vocalization contains any sensitive information.Where the initial portion of the sensitive information as represented inthe sensitive information data 225 matches the content of thevocalization, the sensitive information detection circuit 245 maydetermine that the vocalization contains sensitive information. In someembodiments, the sensitive information detection circuit 245 may comparethe number of matching characters to a threshold. The threshold may be apredetermined number of characters used to discern random vocalizationswhich may include individual characters to vocalizations that containsensitive information. The threshold may be fixed or dynamic. Where thenumber of matching characters meets (or exceeds) the threshold, thesensitive information detection circuit 245 may determine that thatvocalization contains sensitive information. Where the vocalizationcontains sensitive information, the method may proceed to operation 514.Where the vocalization does not contain sensitive information, themethod may loop back to operation 504, where the primary device 100 ismaintained in an idle state. In some embodiments, the method 500 mayproceed directly to operation 526 (discussed below) when thevocalization contains sensitive information.

At operation 514, the user identification circuit 260 may identify theuser who spoke the vocalization detected at operation 506. The useridentification circuit 260 may identify the user based on variouscharacteristics associated with the user. For instance, the useridentification circuit 260 may identify the user based on the user'svoice (using the speaker recognition system). Additionally oralternatively, the user identification circuit 260 may identify the userbased on biometric features (using the biometric sensors 270). In bothof these instances, the user identification circuit 260 may identify theuser by comparing characteristics associated with a user profile 265 todetected characteristics which correspond to the speaker of thevocalization. The method 500 may proceed to operation 516.

At operation 516, the speaker control circuit 250 may determine thesecurity settings based on a user profile 265. The security settings maybe indicative of whether particular data entries in the sensitiveinformation data 225 are deemed sensitive when spoken by particularusers. The security settings may indicate that some sensitiveinformation is not sensitive when spoken by particular users (such asthe user corresponding to the sensitive information or other specificusers). The security settings may indicate that some sensitiveinformation is always sensitive. The security settings may indicate thatsome sensitive information is not sensitive when authorized by aparticular user on a case-by-case basis. The method 500 may proceed tooperation 518.

At operation 518, the speaker control circuit 250 may determine whetherthe security settings indicate authorization to permit the disclosure ofthe sensitive information contained in the vocalization detected atoperation 506. In some instances, the security settings may indicatethat the particular sensitive information in the vocalization is notsensitive when spoken by the user identified at operation 514 (e.g.,that the sensitive information is authorized to be provided by the useridentified at operation 514). In other instances, the security settingsmay indicate that the particular sensitive information in thevocalization is never sensitive (e.g., that the sensitive information isnot actually sensitive). In other instances, the security settings mayindicate that the particular sensitive information is not sensitive whenthe user specifically authorizes the disclosure (e.g., on a case-by-casebasis as the user decides). Where the security settings indicate thatthe sensitive information is authorized to be provided, the method 500may loop back to operation 504 where the primary device 100 ismaintained in the idle state. Where the security settings indicate thatthe sensitive information is not authorized to be provided, the method500 may proceed to operation 520. In some embodiments, the method 500may proceed directly to operation 526 (discussed below) when thesecurity settings indicate that the sensitive information is neverauthorized to be provided.

At operation 520, the speaker control circuit 250 may provide anotification to the user. In some embodiments, the speaker controlcircuit 250 may control the speaker system 205 to provide an audionotification to the speaker of the vocalization. The speaker controlcircuit 250 may store a notification signal which is communicated to thespeaker system 205. The notification signal may be a signal that, whencommunicated to the speaker system 205, causes the speaker(s) 115 tooutput a sound that corresponds to a notification directed to thespeaker. In this embodiment, the notification may alert the speaker thatthe speaker was disclosing sensitive information. In some embodiments,the speaker control circuit 250 may also store a display signal. Thedisplay signal may control a display 255 to output visual feedback alongwith the audio message (e.g., the notification may be an audio/visualnotification). The method 500 may proceed to operation 522.

At operation 522, the speaker control circuit 250 may requestauthorization to permit the disclosure of the sensitive information. Insome embodiments, the speaker control circuit 250 may control thespeaker system 205 to generate a prompt requesting authorization topermit the disclosure of the sensitive information. For instance, thespeaker control circuit 250 may store a prompt signal. The prompt signalmay be a signal that, when communicated to the speaker system 205,causes the speaker(s) 115 to output a sound that solicits informationfrom the speaker of the voice prompt. For instance, the sound may be anaudio prompt which asks the speaker to authorize the disclosure of thesensitive information (e.g., “Do you wish to provide this sensitiveinformation?”). The speaker may respond in natural language form (e.g.,“Yes, I want to proceed.”). The speaker's response may be detected bythe microphone 200 and interpreted by the vocalization processingcircuit 230.

In some embodiments, operation 520 and operation 522 may be performedremotely from the primary device 100. For instance, a specific user(other than the speaker) may receive a notification on their mobiledevice which indicates that a vocalization contained sensitiveinformation. The notification may include, for instance, authorize andblock buttons which either authorize or deny authorization of thedisclosure of the sensitive information. In this regard, the user mayauthorize (or deny authorization of) the disclosure of sensitiveinformation remotely from the primary device 100. The method 500 mayproceed to operation 524.

At operation 524, the speaker control circuit 250 may determine whetherauthorization was received (from the request provided at operation 522).If authorization is received, the method 500 may loop back to operation504, where the primary device 100 is maintained in an idle state. Ifauthorization is not received (or expressly denied), the method 500 mayproceed to operation 526. In some embodiments, the speaker controlcircuit 250 may control the speaker system 205 to prompt the user tore-speak the sensitive information where authorization is received. Theuser may then speak the sensitive information to the secondary device105 while the primary device 100 is maintained in the idle state.

At operation 526, the speaker control circuit 250 may communicate thenoise canceling signal to the speaker system 205. The noise cancelingsignal may be a signal that, when communicated to the speaker system205, causes the speaker(s) 115 to output a sound that interrupts orotherwise prevents receipt of sensitive information by any other deviceslocated in the environment of the primary device 100. The speakercontrol circuit 250 may provide the noise canceling signal to thespeaker system 205 prior to the speaker speaking the entirety of thesensitive information. Accordingly, the sensitive information detectioncircuit 245 may identify that vocalization contains an initial portionof sensitive information, and the speaker control circuit 250 mayprovide the noise canceling signal to the speaker system 205 prior tothe speaker speaking the entirety of the sensitive information. Thespeaker(s) 115 may output the noise canceling sound which interrupts thereceipt of the remaining portion of the sensitive information from thedata entry. The speaker(s) 115 may output the noise canceling sound fora duration (e.g., a number of seconds, a minute, etc.) sufficient tointerrupt further receipt of sensitive information by other devices inthe environment of the primary device 100.

In some embodiments, the speaker control circuit 250 may determine theduration to output the noise canceling sound. The duration may be afixed duration (e.g., 30 seconds, a minute, etc.). In some embodiments,the duration may be a function of the sensitive information. Forinstance, where the sensitive information is a password containing anumber of characters, the speaker control circuit 250 may determine thenumber of characters contained in the password. The speaker controlcircuit 250 may store or access data corresponding to the averageduration to speak a character. The speaker control circuit 250 maydetermine the duration based on the duration to speak a character andthe number of characters contained in the password. As another example,the sensitive information may be a sentence, phrase, or word containinga number of syllables. The speaker control circuit 250 may determine thenumber of syllables for the sensitive information. The speaker controlcircuit 250 may store or access data corresponding to the averageduration to speak a syllable. The speaker control circuit 250 maydetermine the duration based on the duration to speak a syllable and thenumber of syllables contained in the password.

In some embodiments, the method 500 ends following the interruption ofthe receipt of sensitive information. In some embodiments, the method500 may include deactivating the noise canceling sound and proceedingback to operation 504, where the primary device 100 is maintained in anidle state. In this regard, the method 500 may loop. The primary device100 may continuously (or near-continuously) monitor vocalizations todetermine whether they contain sensitive information, and interruptreceipt of the sensitive information by other devices when sensitiveinformation is identified in a vocalization.

The embodiments described herein have been described with reference todrawings. The drawings illustrate certain details of specificembodiments that implement the systems, methods and programs describedherein. However, describing the embodiments with drawings should not beconstrued as imposing on the disclosure any limitations that may bepresent in the drawings.

It should be understood that no claim element herein is to be construedunder the disclosures of 35 U.S.C. §112(f), unless the element isexpressly recited using the phrase “means for.”

As used herein, the term “circuit” may include hardware structured toexecute the functions described herein. In some embodiments, eachrespective “circuit” may include machine-readable media for configuringthe hardware to execute the functions described herein. The circuit maybe embodied as one or more circuitry components including, but notlimited to, processing circuitry, network interfaces, peripheraldevices, input devices, output devices, sensors, etc. In someembodiments, a circuit may take the form of one or more analog circuits,electronic circuits (e.g., integrated circuits (IC), discrete circuits,system on a chip (SOCs) circuits, etc.), telecommunication circuits,hybrid circuits, and any other type of “circuit.” In this regard, the“circuit” may include any type of component for accomplishing orfacilitating achievement of the operations described herein. Forexample, a circuit as described herein may include one or moretransistors, logic gates (e.g., NAND, AND, NOR, OR, XOR, NOT, XNOR,etc.), resistors, multiplexers, registers, capacitors, inductors,diodes, wiring, and so on).

The “circuit” may also include one or more processors communicativelycoupled to one or more memory or memory devices. In this regard, the oneor more processors may execute instructions stored in the memory or mayexecute instructions otherwise accessible to the one or more processors.In some embodiments, the one or more processors may be embodied invarious ways. The one or more processors may be constructed in a mannersufficient to perform at least the operations described herein. In someembodiments, the one or more processors may be shared by multiplecircuits (e.g., circuit A and circuit B may comprise or otherwise sharethe same processor which, in some example embodiments, may executeinstructions stored, or otherwise accessed, via different areas ofmemory). Alternatively or additionally, the one or more processors maybe structured to perform or otherwise execute certain operationsindependent of one or more co-processors. In other example embodiments,two or more processors may be coupled via a bus to enable independent,parallel, pipelined, or multi-threaded instruction execution. Eachprocessor may be implemented as one or more general-purpose processors,application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), or other suitableelectronic data processing components structured to execute instructionsprovided by memory. The one or more processors may take the form of asingle core processor, multi-core processor (e.g., a dual coreprocessor, triple core processor, quad core processor, etc.),microprocessor, etc. In some embodiments, the one or more processors maybe external to the apparatus, for example the one or more processors maybe a remote processor (e.g., a cloud based processor). Alternatively oradditionally, the one or more processors may be internal and/or local tothe apparatus. In this regard, a given circuit or components thereof maybe disposed locally (e.g., as part of a local server, a local computingsystem, etc.) or remotely (e.g., as part of a remote server such as acloud based server). To that end, a “circuit” as described herein mayinclude components that are distributed across one or more locations.

An exemplary system for implementing the overall system or portions ofthe embodiments might include a general purpose computing computers inthe form of computers, including a processing unit, a system memory, anda system bus that couples various system components including the systemmemory to the processing unit. Each memory device may includenon-transient volatile storage media, non-volatile storage media,non-transitory storage media (e.g., one or more volatile and/ornon-volatile memories), a distributed ledger (e.g., a blockchain), etc.In some embodiments, the non-volatile media may take the form of ROM,flash memory (e.g., flash memory such as NAND, 3D NAND, NOR, 3D NOR,etc.), EEPROM, MRAM, magnetic storage, hard discs, optical discs, etc.In other embodiments, the volatile storage media may take the form ofRAM, TRAM, ZRAM, etc. Combinations of the above are also included withinthe scope of machine-readable media. In this regard, machine-executableinstructions comprise, for example, instructions and data which cause ageneral purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purposeprocessing machines to perform a certain function or group of functions.Each respective memory device may be operable to maintain or otherwisestore information relating to the operations performed by one or moreassociated circuits, including processor instructions and related data(e.g., database components, object code components, script components,etc.), in accordance with the example embodiments described herein.

It should also be noted that the term “input devices,” as describedherein, may include any type of input device including, but not limitedto, a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, joystick or other input devicesperforming a similar function. Comparatively, the term “output device,”as described herein, may include any type of output device including,but not limited to, a computer monitor, printer, facsimile machine, orother output devices performing a similar function.

Any foregoing references to currency or funds are intended to includefiat currencies, non-fiat currencies (e.g., precious metals), andmath-based currencies (often referred to as cryptocurrencies). Examplesof math-based currencies include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin,and the like.

It should be noted that although the diagrams herein may show a specificorder and composition of method steps, it is understood that the orderof these steps may differ from what is depicted. For example, two ormore steps may be performed concurrently or with partial concurrence.Also, some method steps that are performed as discrete steps may becombined, steps being performed as a combined step may be separated intodiscrete steps, the sequence of certain processes may be reversed orotherwise varied, and the nature or number of discrete processes may bealtered or varied. The order or sequence of any element or apparatus maybe varied or substituted according to alternative embodiments.Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included withinthe scope of the present disclosure as defined in the appended claims.Such variations will depend on the machine-readable media and hardwaresystems chosen and on designer choice. It is understood that all suchvariations are within the scope of the disclosure. Likewise, softwareand web implementations of the present disclosure could be accomplishedwith standard programming techniques with rule based logic and otherlogic to accomplish the various database searching steps, correlationsteps, comparison steps and decision steps.

The foregoing description of embodiments has been presented for purposesof illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive orto limit the disclosure to the precise form disclosed, and modificationsand variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may beacquired from this disclosure. The embodiments were chosen and describedin order to explain the principals of the disclosure and its practicalapplication to enable one skilled in the art to utilize the variousembodiments and with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated. Other substitutions, modifications, changesand omissions may be made in the design, operating conditions andarrangement of the embodiments without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure as expressed in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: detecting, by one or moreprocessors, an initial vocalization by a user in an environmentincluding a primary device and a secondary device; analyzing, by the oneor more processors, the initial vocalization to determine whether afuture vocalization is likely to contain sensitive information based onthe initial vocalization, wherein the future vocalization is a potentialfuture vocalization; and controlling, based on determining that thefuture vocalization is likely to contain sensitive information, aspeaker of the primary device to output a noise canceling signalconfigured to prevent the secondary device from detecting the futurevocalization.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial vocalizationis directed to the secondary device.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinanalyzing the initial vocalization comprises determining a content ofthe initial vocalization.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein determininga content of the initial vocalization comprises performing naturallanguage processing of the initial vocalization.
 5. The method of claim3, wherein the content of the initial vocalization is indicative of alikelihood of the future vocalization containing sensitive information.6. The method of claim 5, wherein the likelihood of the futurevocalization containing sensitive information indicates that the futurevocalization will contain sensitive information.
 7. The method of claim1, wherein the initial vocalization is at least one of a phraseincluding two or more words or a portion of a password.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: determining an identity of the user basedon a voice characteristic of the initial vocalization; and determining asecurity setting associated with the user based on the determinedidentity; wherein controlling the speaker is based on the securitysetting.
 9. A system comprising: a microphone in an environmentincluding a secondary device; a speaker in the environment andconfigured to selectively output noise canceling signals into theenvironment; and a processing circuit communicably coupled to themicrophone and the speaker, the processing circuit including one or moreprocessors and memory, the memory comprising instructions that, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processorsto: receive, via the microphone, an initial vocalization by a user inthe environment; analyze the initial vocalization to determine whether afuture vocalization is likely to contain sensitive information based onthe initial vocalization, wherein the future vocalization is a potentialfuture vocalization; and control, based on determining that the futurevocalization is likely to contain sensitive information, the speaker tooutput a noise canceling signal to prevent the secondary device fromdetecting the future vocalization.
 10. The system of claim 9, whereinthe initial vocalization is directed to the secondary device.
 11. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein analyzing the initial vocalization comprisesdetermining a content of the initial vocalization.
 12. The system ofclaim 11, wherein determining a content of the initial vocalizationcomprises performing natural language processing of the initialvocalization.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the content of theinitial vocalization is indicative of a likelihood of the futurevocalization containing sensitive information.
 14. The system of claim13, wherein the likelihood of the future vocalization containingsensitive information indicates that the future vocalization willcontain sensitive information.
 15. The system of claim 9, wherein theinitial vocalization is at least one of a phrase including two or morewords or a portion of a password.
 16. The method of claim 9, wherein theinstructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further causethe one or more processors to: determine an identity of the user basedon a voice characteristic of the initial vocalization; and determine asecurity setting associated with the user based on the determinedidentity; wherein controlling the speaker is based on the securitysetting.
 17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprisinginstructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or moreprocessors, causes the one or more processors to: detect an initialvocalization by a user in an environment; analyze the initialvocalization to determine whether a future vocalization is likely tocontain sensitive information based on the initial vocalization, whereinthe future vocalization is a potential future vocalization; and control,based on determining that the future vocalization is likely to containsensitive information, a speaker of a primary device to output a noisecanceling signal configured to prevent a secondary device from detectingthe future vocalization.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 17, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or moreprocessors, causes the one or more processors to provide a notificationbased on determining that the future vocalization is likely to containsensitive information.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 18, wherein the notification provides an indication to informthe user that the user was disclosing sensitive information.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the initialvocalization is at least one of a phrase including two or more words ora portion of a password.